FORT MYERS, Fla. — The four injections Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew received on Monday in Boston contained a combination of cortisone and litacane. Dr. Bill Palmer administered the procedure.

Drew took batting practice Thursday morning and is expected to play against the Marlins on Friday at City of Palms Park.

Drew missed a total of 33 games late last season after he suffered a herniated disk. He received a couple of epidural shots to help alleviate the discomfort in his lower back, and that procedure was more invasive than the recent injections. Drew explained the epidural shot is injected directly into the spinal area, while the injection he received on Monday was into the facet joints on each side of the spine.

“I feel good,” said Drew. “More than anything, I talked about residual stiffness I had throughout the offseason that I really wished I could get rid of. I started working with a chiropractor and we started talking about the facet tightness that I had, and he thought that might be the main cause — some of that residual stiffness from sitting around and riding on the airplanes, sitting around the house and things like that. Really the only way to know if this would work or not was to go ahead and try the injection. If it works, then great, and we could get it freed up. If we didn’t, then we would try something different. It’s felt really good the last couple of days.” More…